Going Down

Brinlee finally conquered the stairs!!

Brinlee has been going up the stairs since she started crawling.  It's been great and she loves it.  She's so great at it that I don't often follow her up.  But until last week when she wanted to come down she would just stand at the top of the stairs and cry.  That was my cue to go bring her down. I've been turning her around, putting her on her belly and then helping her scoot down the stairs.  Just the other day as I was coming down the stairs she was coming up.  I hit the bottom and rounded the corner and as I was listening to her I realized she was moving on the stairs but not going up.  I got so excited.  Now she's a pro!  Although she doesn't always do this well, she has me so scared because she keeps threatening to try and walk down the stairs and I'm sure she's going to try it once and fall all the way down.

Long Beach

Last weekend Joseph, Brinlee and I went with my family to Long Beach, WA for a family vacation.  We had a great time.  Here's a few pics from the weekend.

We left a little later than we thought so we stopped on the way for McDonalds.  Brilee was loving her first hamburger!  Then she shared an ice cream cone with Aunt Cassie.  I think she liked that more!

Once we got to the ocean Brinlee loved playing and walking in the water and the sand.  

Brinlee and Papa Bear

She loved playing with this blue ball. Papa Bear would drop it in the water up high and then she would follow it for a little ways while it floated.

So much fun to ride in the wagon with Aunt Cassie.

She was a little disappointed that the frisbee wouldn't fly very well in all the wind.

Yay for shovels and buckets and sand!

She was soaked!

The view from our condo.

Brinlee got all dressed to go swimming in the pool.  It was a little cold so she didn't stay for long.

 We were down there for opening weekend of Clam Digging so we went!  We got all dressed up had a great time.  In total we got 34 clams which we were pretty proud of. 

Cassie used a clam whistle to attract them all.  

(I'm pretty sure it was a joke, but she dug up the most clams...)

We flew kites and rode these awesome bikes.  (I was awful at steering with my feet. And riding in sand is harder than you think.  Thanks for the help Joseph.)

Our last stop before heading out of town was an ice cream store.  I found Black Licorice ice cream and couldn't resist.  Brinlee really liked it too!

When we got home Brinlee helped Papa Bear wash the truck.  

She loves the water and bubbles, I can't wait til this summer when we can go swimming!

Three S's

-SLEDDING-

Yesterday we went up to Snoqualmie Pass to go sledding and had a great time.  I could not have asked for better weather to take Brinlee sledding for the first time.  She wasn't so sure about it when we started but loved seeing all the people.  Here are a few pictures and a video from the day.

Brinlee and I on our first trip down the mountain.

Brinlee's favorite part of the day was definately lunch!  (No real surprise)

-SEATTLE SCIENCE CENTER-

Friday we went with Grandma Blackner, Stephanie, Hewitt & Donny to the Science Center and had a blast.  It was great to let Brinlee explore all she wanted.  She had a great time in the little kids section getting to move and touch everything. 

Here she is playing in the water.

We built Donny a little house and Brinlee kept trying to get inside. We had to rebuild the house a few times since she kept knocking it down.

My personal favorite was the Butterfly house.  If you haven't been it's this huge tropical feeling area that is filled with Butterflies!  They are all different colors and sizes and are amazing to watch.  Brinlee loved seeing them fly around.  One almost landed on her head!  

The boys seemed to really enjoy the fish as well.

-SWINGING-

A little bit ago we went to the park and Brinlee went on the swing for the first time.  Here's a little clip of it.

I thought she looked so cute!

Christmas, New Years and More

Here's a few pics with some of Brinlee's new adventures.

Just before Christmas we went to Zoo Lights at the Point Defiane Zoo in Tacoma. Brinlee loved looking at all the lights and had a great time looking for all the fish in the aquarium.

Just a few days before Christmas we went to Long Beach with Joseph's Family.  It was really windy and cold, but still fun to play on the beach.

 Joseph did what all boys do...dig!

 Maybe not all boys, Tim made sure that everyone knew he was there.

 Here's my only pic worth posting from New Years Eve.  My battery died before I could really get any good pics.  Thanks to whoever took this one for me! (Daniel - pick or scratch?!)

 Happy New Years!  Looks like Brinlee has learned a few things from Aunt Sydney...like how to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with your entire face.  Aunt Sydney loved PB&J sandwiches when she was little and afterwards there was always jelly on her forehead and in her eyebrows.  We never knew how it got there.  Now I find myself wondering the same thing with Brinlee.

 This past Friday Brinlee and I went to Point Defiance Zoo with her cousins.  It was a pretty icky day outside so the zoo was empty. (Literally, there were only 15 cars there) We had a great time though.  We found the peacock wandering.  it almost blends into the background here. It's amazing to see these animals up close.

 Brinlee enjoyed the fish once again!

 Man those walruses are HUGE!!! This small picture doesn't do justice to the size of this animal.  And he wasn't the biggest one in the tank.  He was just admiring us as we ate our lunch.

 Brinlee wansn't so sure she enjoyed all the rain.

For Christmas Grandma Jo made Brinlee her very own hooded towel.  Just in time too, she's grown out of her little ones.  She loved being all wrapped up in it today.  I'll have to get a good picture of the towel since it turned out so cute!  It has her name on it in blue and on the hood is a cute punk ladybug.